Pipe-siphon.



S. P. MILLER.

PIPE SIPHON.

APPLICATION FILED F3124, 190a.

.903 ,395. r Patented Nov. 10,1908.

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PIPE SIPHON APPLICATION FILED FEB- 24, 1908.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

2 SHEETS-slum .2.

SAMUEL F. MILLER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PIPE-SIPHON.

Application filed February 24, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. MILLER, a

*citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pipe-siphons; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specifi cation.

This invention relates to a novel pipe siphon for filling and discharging receptacles under circumstances where a receptacle of smaller dimensions is to be filled from and afterwards discharged into a tank or receptacle of larger dimensions.

One practical adaptation of my invention is found in an apparatus for distributing liquid sewage from a septic tank to the filter beds of a sewage purifying plant of the general character shown in the prior United States Letters Patent to Adams, Number 6%,325, granted April 21th, 1900. In the system disclosed in said patent the liquid sewage is fed from a distributing chamber alternately to two or more filter beds, and automatic air lock feed devices are employed to control the delivery of the sewage to said filter beds in such manner that when the feed flow is cut off from one filter bed the air lock feed device of another filter bed is opened to permit the flow of the sewage to another filter bed. In the construction shown in the said prior Adams patent, the air lock feed devices are controlled to lock and release the same by means of air pressure transmitted thereto through two down wardly opening bells or domes in each filter bed and pipes connecting said domes with the air lock feed devices; one dome in each filter bed communicating through its pipewith the feed device of its associated bed and the other dome or bell communicating through its pipe with the feed device of an other filter bed, whereby, upon the rise of liquid in the filter bed and around the open lower ends of said domes, the air imprisoned in said bells is transmitted under pressure to the air lock feed devices to control the same in the manner set forth in said Adams patent.

The system in connection with which my novel pipe siphon may be used difiers from the prior Adams construction in that the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

Serial No. 417,263.

domes referred to are located in small chambers, termed compression chambers which are located adjacent to and receive liquid from the filterbeds, said chambers being filled from the filter beds through the pipe siphons herein shown as the filter beds are filled, and being discharged through said pipe siphons as the filter beds are emptied. The said compression chambers are located at the level of the filter beds and the filling and discharging pipe siphons each comprise an ascending and a descending limb, one of which communicates at its lower end with the filter bed and the other of which communicates at its lower end with the interior of the compression chamber, said limbs being connected at their upper ends by a transverse bend. For convenience of description, the limb which communicates with the filter bed is hereinafter termed the filling inlet limb and the limb which communicates with the compression chamber is termed the filling discharge limb, said terms having reference to the direction of flow of the liquid through the pipe siphon when the-compression chamber is being filled.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction and operation of such filling and discharging pipe siphons so as to prevent accumulation of air therein in a manner tending to interfere with the proper action of said device when it operates as a siphon to empty the contents of the compression chamber into the filter bed, or in a generally similar manner operates'to empty any other receptacle which is filled through the same siphon device.

This invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

As shown in the drawings :Figure 1 is a top plan view of a compression chamber of the character referred to, showing also an associated filter bed and part of the distributing chamber by which liquid is distributed to the filter beds of the system. Fig. 2 is a vertical section, taken on line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the filling and discharging siphon pipe illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. .t is an enlarged plan view of the reducing elbow of the siphon shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 5 is a partial vertical section and partial elevation of a modified form of pipe siphon. Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the siphon shown in Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawings, 12 and13 designate the side walls and 14 one of the end walls of a distributing chamber, and 15 designates a filter bed which receives liquid from the distributing chamber through the air lock feed devices referred to, but not herein shown.

16 designates one of the compression chambers of the system located, as herein shown, at one end of the distributing chamber and inclosed by the end wall 1 1 and side walls 12 and 13 of the distributing chamber, and a wall 17 extending transversely between said side walls 12 and 13. Contained within said compression chamber is a downwardly opening bell or dome 20 which is closed at its top. Said dome is provided with a pipe 21 which communicates at one end thereof with the interior if the bell through its top wall and is designed for connection at its other end with the air lock feed device of the associated filter bed. 'Contained also within said compression chamber is a smaller bell or dome 23 provided with a pipe 2% which is designed to extend to and communicate with the air lock feed device of another filter bed. The said pressure transmitting domes and their pipes and the air lock feed devices constitute no part of the present invention and general reference has been made thereto only for the purpose of indicating a practical use 7 of my novel pipe siphon in connection therei with.

The said compression chamber communicates with the filter bed through the medium of a pipe siphon27, shown in place in Figs. 1 and 2 and in detail in Figs. 8 and at, and in which is embraced my present invention. The siphon pipes shown in said figures comprise two vertical limbs 28 and 29 open at their lower ends, and a transverse portion 30 which connects the upper ends of said limbs. The limb 28, herein termed the inlet filling limb, is located within the filter bed adjacent to the wall 12,.separating the compression chamber and filter bed and is in open communication at its lower end with the filter bed. The filling discharge limb 29 of said siphon pipe is located on the other side of said wall within the compression chamber and is in open communication at its lower end with said chamber. The transverse portion 30 connecting the upper ends of said limbs extends through said wall 12.

When the filter bed has filled to the level of the transverse portion or bend of the siphon, the liquid flows from the filter bed through said siphon into the compression chamber and fills said compression chamber to the same level as the filter bed is filled. As the liquid rises in said compression chamher around the downwardly opening domes therein, air pressure is transmitted to the i air lock feed devices or the filter beds in the the further flow of liquid to one filter bed and starts the flow of liquid to another filter bed. The compression chamber is emptied through said pipe siphon when the associated filter bed is emptied. If the compression chamber be filled to a height to submerge the transverse connecting portion or bend of the siphon, the beginning of the emptying operation of the compression chamber through the siphon is effected by gravity. Afterthe liquid level in the compression chamber reaches a point below the bend of the siphon the continued flow of the liquid through said siphon is effected by a siphon action, such action continuing until the lower end of the leg in the compression chamber is uncovered. It will be noted that said latter limb of the siphon terminates below the level of the bells or domes, thus in suring that the level of the liquid in the chamber after the emptying operation shall likely to accumulate, shall be entirely filled during the infiow of liquid through the siall of the air from the upper part of the siphon is driven or swept from the siphon ahead of the liquid passing to the compres' sion chamber. It is found in practice that if the transverse portion or bend of the siphon be made of the same diameter as the limb thereof which leads from the filter bed, air confined in the upper part of the siphon will, not be displaced or swept therefrom by the liquid unless the liquid shall rise in the filter bed so rapidly as to produce a rapid movement of a large body of liquid through the siphon, this being a condition which seldom obtains in the case of filter beds of large area or capacity. It is found, moreover, that when the rise of the water in the filter bed is slow, giving only a slight flow or dribble of liquid through said siphon, the liquid may not fill said transverse por tion or bend and may not, therefore, com pletely displace or sweep the air from the siphon. I If a body of air'remains in the up per part or bend of the siphon after the compression chamber has been filled, it will interfere with the subsequent siphoning action of the device when the compression chamber is to be emptied therethrough, and thereby renders the action of the siphon unreliable.

100 )hon to the COHIJIQSSlOll chamber whereb i l v In the form of the siphon pipe shown in Figs. 1 to 4L, inclusive, the upper transverse portion or bend of the siphon comprises a horizontal pipe section and two elbows 36, 37, the former joining said pipe section 35 with the upper end of the filling inlet limb 2S and the latter oining said horizontal section with the filling outlet or discharge limb The said connecting pipe 85 and the filling outlet discharge limb 29 are shown in said last mentioned figures as made of the same diameter and of less diameter than the filling inlet limb, and the reduction of diameter of the siphon takes place in the elbow 36, said elbow constituting a reducing elbow. The full diameter of the filling inlet limb is carried into the reducing elbow 36 approximately to the level of the dam or weir formed by the bottom or floor of the section35 of the siphon bend, and from this point the elbow diameter is rapidly decreased until it reaches the smaller diameter of the transverse section As a result of this feature of construction, a relatively slight rise of water in the larger filling inlet limb will furnish so large a volume of water to the adjacenthorizontal part of the pipe, of smaller diameter, as to completely fill the latter. The filling outlet limb of the siphon may be made of greater diameter than the horizontal portion 35 of the siphon inasmuch as etlective sweeping or clearing of the air from the siphon takes place in the reduced highest portion thereof. It is preferable, however, to make the filling outlet limb of the siphon of the same diameter as the transverse portion or bend thereof; this construction rendering more certain the discharge of all of the air with the moving body of liquid. The. said upper transverse portion of the siphon may be made of any re quired practicable length commensurate with its proper operation a siphon. A con siderable elongation of said transverse or horizontal portion is advantageous inasmuch as the friction of the liquid against the surrounding walls of the pipe as the liquid flows through or along said horizontal or transverse portion thereof has a tendency to retard the flow and thereby insure that the horizontal portion will be completely filled by the liquid entering the same from the filling inlet limb, and any air therein from the upper part of the siphon.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a form of siphon in which the entire device is designed to be contained within the compression chamber and is adapted to be connected at its lower end by a pipe +LO with the filter bed. In said figure, ill and 42 designate, respectively, the filling inlet limband the filling outlet limb of the siphon, the former made larger than the latter and connected at their upper ends by a transverse portion as comprising a single or integral cast fitting. Said fitting consists of a horizontal portion 4A and two downwardly turned end portions 45, 46 which are internally screw-threaded to receive the upper screw-threaded end of the limbs a1 and as. The end of said connecting fitting which communicates with the larger limb of the siphon is made substantially like the reducing elbow of the previously described construction, it carrying the full internal diameter of the limb atl to approximately the level of the fioor or bottom of said fitting and rapidly decreasing in diameter from said point to the smallest diameter of the horizontal portion of the fitting.

lt will be understood that the filling and discharging pipe siphon herein described may be employed wherever it is desired to fill a receptacle With liquid and subsequently discharge the same through the same passage to the receptacle or space from which the liquid flowed to fill such receptacle. It is to be understood, furthermore, that a siphon embodying the principlesof operation described and designed for the use referred to may assume forms varying from those herein illustrated, and I do not wish to be limited to the structural details described, except as hereinafter made the subject of specific claims.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with a receptacle to be filled and emptied and a second receptacle from which liquid is drawn to fill said first receptacle and into which the contents of said first receptacle is discharged, of a filling and discharging siphon connecting said receptacles and through which liquid flows by gravity from the second to the first receptacle to fill the latter, said siphon having a filling discharge limb which opens at its lower end. into the first receptacle and a filling inlet limb which opens at its lower end into the :said second receptacle, said limbs of the siphon being connected at their upper ends by a transverse portion or bend the internal area of which is materially less than that of the filling intake limb of the siphon.

2. The combination With a receptacle to be filled and emptied and a second receptacle from which liquid is drawn to fill said first receptacle and into which the contents of said first receptacle is discharged, of a filling and discharging siphon connecting said receptacles and through which liquid flows by gravity from the second to the first receptacle to fill the latter, said siphon having a filling discharge limb which opens at its lower end into the first receptacle and a filling inlet limb which opens at its lower end into the second receptacle, said limbs of the siphon being connected at their upper ends by a transverse portion or bend, the internal diameter of which is substantially less than that of the filling intake limb of the siphon, the full diameter of said filling intake limb extending approximately to the level of the floor of said transverse portion or bend.

3. The combination with a receptacle to be filled and emptied and a second receptacle from which liquid is drawn to fill said first receptacle and into which the contents of said first receptacle is discharged, of a filling and discharging siphon connecting said receptacles and through'which liquid flows by gravity from the second to the first receptacle to fill the latter, said siphon having a filling discharge limb which opens at its lower end into the first receptacle and a filling inlet limb which opens at its lower end into the second receptacle, said limbs of the siphon being connected at their upper ends by a transverse portion or bend, the internal diameter of said connecting portion or bend and the filling outlet limb being substantially less than that of the filling intake limb of thesiph'on.

4. The combination with a receptacle to be filled and emptied and a second receptacle from which liquid is drawn to fill said first receptacle and into which the contents of said first receptacle is discharged, of a filling and discharging siphon connecting said receptacles and through which liquid flows by gravity from the second to the first receptacle to fill the latter, said siphon hav-- ing a filling discharge limb which opens at its lower end into the first receptacle and a filling inlet limb which opens at its lower end into the said second receptacle, said limbs of the siphon being connected at their upper ends by a transverse portion or bend, said transverse portion or bend being made of substantially horizontal length and of less internal diameter than that of the filling inlet limb of the siphon.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, February A. D. 1908.

SAMUEL r. MILLER.

Witnesses:

C. CLARENCE POOLE, G. R. VVILKINs.

this 15th day of 

